


Pre-Roll

by StonerKeith



Series: Stoner Keith [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Smoking, high at costco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-07-16 08:09:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16082021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StonerKeith/pseuds/StonerKeith
Summary: Lance bit his lip, looking down at the message. He hadn’t smoked with Keith since the first time those few weeks ago, but how was he supposed to go to Costco high?Part 2 of Stoner Keith college au.





	Pre-Roll

_ C’mon, Lance Santiago McClain, you are an adult, and you have the full human capabilities of asking a friend to take you to Costco.  _

 

Lance stared down at his phone screen as the last few messages he traded with Keith stared back at him. It was on Facebook Messenger, and the last message where Keith sent “Haha goodnight ya goon,” mocked him. That was only a few nights ago. He sighed. 

 

“Lance, what’s your deal? Lance.  _ Lance.”  _

 

Lance jumped and looked up to find Hunk giving him a deadpan look. Since his smoke session with Keith a few weeks ago, he had added him on Facebook, stalked that Facebook, and sent him a messages asking about the homework for their physics class almost every other day. Those questions led to subsequent random conversations about life that always made Lance smile at his phone. 

 

“What?” Lance hissed. 

 

Hunk raised his eyebrows and gave him a look. He held his hands up in defense. “Nothing, nothing. You’ve just been staring at your phone for the past five minutes.” 

 

“Oh, yeah,” Lance said, looking from Hunk down to his phone. “Trying to send a message to Keith.” 

 

“Physics again? I can help, you know. It’s like you forget we’re in the same—“ 

 

“No it’s not that,” Lance cut him off. He was always grateful for Hunk’s help but that wasn’t why he’d been asking Keith for physics help in the first place. “I’ve just been trying to find the right way to ask him if he could drive me to Costco. You know, so we can buy food together and stuff.”

 

“That’s awfully domestic,” Hunk commented. Lance frowned at him and looked back down at the empty slot for a new message. 

 

“I need a car to get there, Hunk. I’m not doing this for any ulterior motive.” 

 

He knew he was lying to himself with that last comment, and he knew the ulterior motive was to spend more time with Keith. Although, domestic or not, he really was running low on food, especially snack foods. 

 

“Just ask then. How hard can that be?” Hunk asked, turning back toward his calculus homework. 

 

“It’s  _ Keith, _ Hunk. Keith. Man of my dreams, beautiful face, weed connoisseur extraordinaire, need I go on?” 

 

“Please do,” Hunk joked with an eye roll. Lance scoffed. Hunk was the most unhelpful person on the planet when it came to this stuff. Well, besides Pidge. 

 

“Alright, I’m just gonna say it up front. YOLO and all that jazz,” Lance said, thumbs twiddling around for words to sprout from. 

 

_ Hey Keith! Would you be down to go to Costco with me? We can both use my Costco membership to get in.  _

 

Nope, too formal. Lance held his thumb on the delete button. 

 

_ Yo bro. You, me, Costco. You down? _

 

What was he, a fuck boy? Most definitely not. 

 

He sighed, cheeks puffing up as he deleted the message again. 

 

_ Hey, are you busy this weekend? _

 

He sent the message before he could think about changing it. About 30 seconds into sending it, he began having his doubts. 

 

“Oh my god Hunk I am an  _ idiot _ I should have just asked him straight up if he wanted to go to—“ 

 

His phone vibrated and he immediately stopped rambling to read the message. 

 

_ I am not,  _ the message read.  _ What’s up?  _

 

Lance smiled at the messages, so simple, yet the fact that he replied so fast was so great. 

 

_ Do you wanna go to Costco with me?  _ he wrote. 

 

_ Grocery shopping? How domestic. Sure I’m down.  _

 

Lance nearly imploded. He was about to reply when he saw the gray bubbles pop up. 

 

It read,  _ Just text or call me when you want to leave,  _ followed by 10 digits. 

 

Digits. 

 

Keith’s phone number. 

 

“I have Keith’s phone number,” he muttered to himself. He started to smile as he saved it to his phone with the contact name  _ OG Keith.  _

 

_ That’s perfect,  _ he thought.  _ I’m a genius.  _

 

“That was an evil laugh,” Hunk said, looking up from his homework. Lance looked up in surprise. 

 

“Huh?” 

 

“Oh my god, you are totally whipped, dude!” Hunk yelled, laughing. “It’s like, way worse than that one girl from the Halloween party with the mermaid costume.” 

 

“Wow that feels like it was ages ago,” Lance mused, thinking back on the Halloween party he went to with Hunk a week before meeting Keith. He hadn’t been thinking much of anyone but Keith lately. 

 

Hunk laughed, recalling the memory. “That was a great day. You danced on the coffee table to Daddy Yankee and then passed out drunk.” 

 

Lance grimaced. He hadn’t drank alcohol since that night, and rightly so. He hadn’t gotten high with Keith either, but that was more due to a lack of time rather than because he didn’t want to. If it were up to him, he’d be spending time with Keith everyday. 

 

“Those were dark times, Hunk,” Lance uttered darkly. He looked off dramatically, staring at nothing and everything. 

 

Hunk snorted. “That was this school year.” 

 

“Shut up.” 

 

He sent Keith a thumbs-up before locking his screen and tossing his phone who knows where. The closer he was to his phone, the closer he was to staring at Keith’s contact information until he’d crack and send a dumb message. Or worse—call him. 

 

Not that Keith wouldn’t mind. He learned that much from his exchanges with him. But Lance didn’t want to be greedy; he was seeing Keith that weekend. 

 

The weekend came surprisingly fast, although Lance attributed that to the amount of schoolwork and various school events that happened in those few days. He was honestly pretty busy, to the point where he was too distracted to message Keith at all. 

 

On Saturday however, he woke up around 10am to the sound of Hunk packing up his stuff. 

 

“What?” Lance said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Where are you going?” 

 

“I have a bio midterm next week. Gonna go study with Pidge,” Hunk said, although it sounded like he was reciting instructions from a manual. He packed his laptop, notebook, and textbook, along with snacks that would last him the majority of the day. 

 

“This early?” Lance groaned. 

 

Hunk paused in his packing, turning to give Lance a bitter look. “Not everyone sleeps till 12, Lance.” 

 

“Fair,” Lance responded. Do you need anything from Costco?” 

 

“Granola bars and Goldfish, if you would be so kind,” Hunk said, bowing and giving Lance a proper curtsy. He tossed a smile Lance’s way, although Lance saw the tired and heavy bags under his eyes. Hunk’s five classes were taking its toll on him. 

 

“Of course, my king,” Lance graciously replied. Hunk said his goodbyes and Lance was left alone. He sat up in his bed and decided to take his time eating breakfast and getting ready. 

 

By the time he was putting the last touches on his hair in the mirror, it was a little past noon and Frank Ocean’s “Chanel” was starting to play in his speaker. He sighed, feeling quite pleased at his morning of self-care and taking his time to get ready, and plopped on his bed to send a text to Keith. 

 

_ Good morning Keith! _ he wrote.  _ Ready for Costco?? _

 

Within seconds he saw the bubbles pop up on his brand new iMessage chat with Keith. 

 

_ Sure I just need like 20 minutes. _

 

_ No worries!  _ Lance typed with a smiley face.  _ Take your time I’ll be here.  _

 

Lance didn’t get a reply until a few minutes later, where Keith said,  _ Are you down to smoke before we go? _

 

Lance bit his lip, looking down at the message. He hadn’t smoked with Keith since the first time those few weeks ago, but how was he supposed to go to Costco  _ high?  _

 

Before he could reply, the bubbles popped up again. 

 

_ I have this new joint I want to try. It’s okay if you don’t want to, I just thought I’d offer. _

 

A joint, huh? Lance was curious. 

 

_ Sure, I’m down,  _ he wrote.  _ Just let me know when you’re ready to go.  _

 

Keith thumbed-up his message and didn’t reply. Once their exchange ended, “Keep On” by Kehlani began playing and he looked through Snapchat stories waiting for Keith. He saw that Hunk hadn’t fallen asleep the past night until after 3 and frowned. He really was worried for his roommate. 

 

At that moment, his phone chimed. 

 

_ Ready to go. You’re in room 328 right?  _

 

_ Yeah,  _ Lance texted back before he tossed his phone on his bed to check himself in the mirror one last time. He messed with his hair until he gave up. As he was checking to make sure he had his wallet and keys, he heard a knock at his door. 

 

When Lance opened the door, he found Keith in a black, fitted zip-up hoodie and dark wash jeans. His hands stayed in his pockets, and Lance assumed that’s where he had the joint he mentioned earlier. 

 

“Hey,” Keith said. His eyes weren’t red, and Lance was reminded of how they looked at three in the morning a few weeks ago. So different. “You ready?” 

 

Lance patted his pockets to make sure he had everything and said, “Yep.”

 

He stepped out the door and closed it behind him. They walked side by side to the elevator. 

 

As they walked, after a moment of silence, Keith said, “You know you sent me good morning past noon, right?”

 

“With intent,” Lance proclaimed with a grin. He put his hands in his school sweatshirt pockets, mirroring Keith. Keith shook his head with a smile. 

 

“Then good morning to you too.” 

 

Lance laughed. He was glad it wasn’t awkward, considering he hadn’t really interacted with Keith sober in person. 

 

They reached the ground floor and Keith led them to what Lance recognized as the smokers spot. This was where most students who smoked cigarettes would take their cigarette break between classes. Lance never thought he’d be here besides to pass through to take the shortcut to his class. 

 

“Alright,” Keith said, finally taking his hands out of his pockets and pulling out a green joint and a lighter with him. “This is a joint that, obviously has weed, but it’s also got wax and it’s green ‘cause it’s all rolled in keef.” 

 

Lance looked at him like he was speaking another language. He blinked as Keith looked at him expectantly. He shrugged.

 

“It’s stronger than your average joint.” 

 

“Ohh,” Lance nodded. “Makes sense.” 

 

Lance watched as Keith flicked his thumb to turn on the lighter and lit the butt of the joint. He let it burn for a moment before bringing it up to his lips and flicking the lighter on again. Lance didn’t really see his inhale, but he noticed the end of the joint flicker with embers. Keith pulled it away and Lance saw as smoke flowed out of his mouth.  _ God, I’ll never get used to that.  _ Keith paused for a moment examining the joint before passing it on the Lance. 

 

Lance grabbed it gingerly and turned it around to look at all sides of it. “So I just…” He looked at Keith and made a dramatic inhale noise between his teeth. Keith nodded. 

 

Lance did as he was told and put his mouth to the joint, sucking in. This felt different from the pipe; it felt more like the smoke stayed pooling around in his mouth rather than making its way into his lungs. Maybe he wasn’t doing it right? 

 

“Inhale again once you feel like you have enough smoke,” Keith said, almost like he was reading his mind. 

 

Lance did as so, and it felt much lighter on his lungs. He blew out the smoke moments later and gave Keith the joint back to take another hit. 

 

The next time, Lance primarily inhaled more, and he felt an actual burn in his throat rather than the initial warmth from his first hit. He did his second inhale and, as he exhaled, he began to cough. 

 

“Aw, you were doing so well,” Keith teased with a laugh. 

 

“Shut up,” Lance rasped, recovering much faster than he did with the pipe. “You never have water do you?” Keith shook his head. “I’m going to start bringing my own.” 

 

“If you need it,” Keith replied with a shrug. “What are you buying at Costco anyways? I  _ know _ you’re not gonna use that filthy wasteland this place likes to call a ‘communal kitchen.’” 

 

Lance shook his head, shuddering at the idea. Keith took another hit from the joint. “Of course not. I’m just gonna buy some snacks for Hunk and I when we forget to eat once midterms hit. Which is basically next week.” He grimaced. Keith nodded. 

 

“Physics is on Thursday.” 

 

“ _ Don’t  _ remind me,” Lance groaned, taking the joint from Keith. They passed it back and forth for about 10 minutes, mostly talking about things that had happened in the past few weeks. Lance could taste that familiar burn in his mouth every time he took a hit, but he blinked. He didn’t really feel that high. 

 

Keith looked at the joint. They had smoked nearly three-quarters of it. “I’d say this is a good place to stop.” 

 

“Stop?” Lance said with a frown. He wasn’t high, though. 

 

“Uh… yeah,” Keith said giving him a look. He put the joint back into its container and stuffed it into his pocket. “Let’s go.”

 

Keith led them to his car, and as they walked through the parking lot, Lance felt a tingle spread through his entire body. His mouth felt like it was full of cotton and his body felt heavier and heavier with each step. He took a peek at Keith, who seemed completely fine, and not high.  _ What the hell?  _

 

Keith wasn’t parked too far from their dorm hall, and he unlocked the doors to his 2013 Dodge Challenger as they approached it. Lance honestly felt like he couldn’t speak as he quietly stepped into the passenger seat. At the same time, Keith was getting into the driver’s side. They both buckled their seatbelts and looked at each other once they were settled. Keith snorted after he took one look at Lance.

 

“Your eyes are dummy red, dude,” he chortled. Lance bristled, but he didn’t reply. It felt like he  _ couldn’t _ and that made him laugh. Before he knew it, his laughs grew in volume and his lungs felt light and heavy at the same time. This was such a weird high. More like… in his body. “Alright, I need you to be navigator.”

 

Lance looked up again and found Keith staring at him. His eyes were also beginning to turn a pinkish red. Lance pointed at himself in question.

 

“Yes, you. And please, please try speaking. I know that kind of high, and the best thing to do is just  try to say something.” 

 

“Keiiiiiiith,” Lance drawled, testing words on his tongue. “Holy shit this is so weird. I’m higher than last time.” 

 

“I noticed,” Keith said, quirking an eyebrow. His hands rested on his wheel. “You gonna pull up directions or are we gonna sit here forever?” 

 

“Right,” Lance replied, shaking himself of the tingly feeling in his body. He searched up the nearest Costco and jumped when his phone recited the first turn. 

 

“Oh,”  Keith said as he pulled out of his parking spot. He rummaged around the compartment that doubled as an armrest between their seats. “Here’s the AUX cord.” 

 

Lance plugged his phone in. “Thanks.” He sifted through his playlists and found the one he was looking for: a playlist he created after that one night in the bathroom with Keith. He couldn’t help himself. He hit “shuffle” and let his phone decide what to play, just as his navigation spit out more directions, making him jump. Keith laughed again.

 

“You’re okay, dude. You can turn it down a bit if you want.”

 

Lance gingerly turned the volume knob in the car as Keith turned onto an unfamiliar street. He didn’t go off campus very often. He watched as the trees and shops of his college’s town whisked past. “Nikes” by Frank Ocean was playing. The slow beats and echoes of the song made him feel like he was floating. He sat back for a moment with his head against the seat and enjoyed the warmth of the car, which mirrored the warmth in his chest. The song ended and the navigation system spoke up again. After a few more songs, they were about halfway there, and “Fool For You,”  by Snoh Aalegra strumed through the speakers. 

 

“What song is this?” Keith asked after the initial 12 minutes of music-filled silence. He hadn’t spoken the entire time. Lance figured he was focused on driving. If he was the one driving in his current state, he definitely would not be talking either. 

 

“Fool for you by Snoh Aalegra,” Lance replied, looking down at his phone’s screen and seeing that they were 11 minutes away.

 

“Hm,” Keith hummed. “It’s nice.” 

 

A small smile reached Lance’s lips. His eyes felt heavy. He was content again. 

 

The rest of the drive was mostly relaxed and quiet, with music and directions filling the car. When they reached Costco, Lance was still pretty high, but he figured he could act sober enough to grab a cart and flash his Costco card to the worker. 

 

They exited the car and walked towards the warehouse. 

 

“You don’t seem that high,” Lance commented. 

 

Keith shrugged with his hands in his pockets. “You get used to it. I’m actually pretty high.” His words were slurring a bit, Lance noticed once he listened more closely. 

 

They successfully made it past the card checker and Lance looked over and saw Keith squinting at the bright fluorescent lights of the store. He started laughing. 

 

“Why are these things so bright,” Keith complained. He lifted his hood up over his head and pouted. 

 

Lance smiled. “It’s a huge warehouse. How else would we be able to see?” 

 

Keith shrugged and continued pouting. Lance began looking around at everything. They initially passed the electronics section and it was here that he realized how  _ vivid  _ everything looked. 

 

“Wow,” he whispered in awe. “Things look weird again.” 

 

“They just look really bright,” Keith grumbled. Lance rolled his eyes as he pushed the cart and they continued past all of the non-food sections without looking around. 

 

When they reached the bakery area, Lance said, “Oh my god, this is too much power.” He looked over at Keith. “Now that I know food tastes  _ phenomenal  _ high, I kinda want everything.” 

 

“Oooh poppy seed muffins,” Keith said, walking away from the cart. He grabbed a dozen and put it in the cart with a grin. 

 

_ He’s so cute without trying, what the hell,  _ Lance thought. 

 

Because it was Saturday, Costco was fairly busy. Lance nearly crashed into half of the mom’s who made their way toward them. He apologized every time. 

 

“You want me to push?” Keith asked. Lance looked stressed. 

 

“Please,” Lance said, handing off the reins. 

 

Keith pushed and Lance put snacks into the cart. It was a good system. They made their way through the warehouse fairly safe, minus the initial bumps that Lance experienced earlier. 

 

By the time they were paying about an hour and a half later, he was practically sober.  _ Thank god.  _ Keith tried paying for the poppy seed muffins but Lance didn’t let him. When they reached the car, Lance pulled out his phone. Keith was holding the cart so it wouldn’t crash into his car. 

 

“Wait wait!” Lance said. He opened snapchat and recorded the cart of food, then moved the camera up to Keith’s deadpan look, back down to the food, and again to Keith. He added a few filters, captioned it, “stocked UP,” and added it to his story. “That’s beautiful.” 

 

“Thanks,” Keith droned, unamused. “Add me so I can see it.” 

 

Keith passed his phone to Lance, who added himself on Keith’s snapchat with an excited grin. He changed his name to “Keith’s stoner buddy” and was proud of his work. He passed the phone back just as he got the notification on his own phone. He added him back and immediately went to take a selfie of Keith loading the items into his car, and sent it to him and Hunk with the caption, “He only bought poppy seed muffins and the rest is mine.” He put his phone away and helped Keith with the rest of the stuff. Lance went to return the cart and Keith started up the car. 

 

“That was fun,” Lance said as he hopped into the passenger seat. “Probably bought too much stuff but that’s high Lance’s fault, not mine.” 

 

“You’re living with the consequences though,” Keith pointed out. 

 

“Ah, ah ah,” Lance sang. “ _ Benefits.  _ High Lance knows me well.”

 

Keith laughed. “True. Alright let’s go home. We can finish the joint when we get back if you’d like to?” 

 

Lance nodded. “So down.” 

 

Lance took the AUX cord again and put in directions, and Keith spoke soon after the first song started playing. 

 

“I’m kinda nervous for our midterm.”

 

Lance looked over at Keith to find his staring aimlessly at the road in front of him. His eyes flickered to the mirror only for a moment. Lance didn’t look away from his face. He noticed the way Keith’s hair curled near his cheek and he noticed the way his shoulders rose with each breath he took. 

 

“You shouldn’t be nervous,” Lance said. “You’re stupidly smart.” 

 

“Stupidly?” Keith teased, finally looking at Lance, who was nodding. 

 

“Yes, trust me. You don’t give yourself enough credit. Is all that weed smoking killing away your confidence? ‘Cause I’ll take it away from you.” He was only half joking.

 

Keith shook his head. “No, no it’s fine. It kinda motivates me to study. Like, if I get high today, tomorrow, and tonight will be all studying.”

 

“Hm,” Lance hummed, only half convinced. “Okay fine. But I believe in you. And if you ever wanna, like, study together before the exam, I’m here.” 

 

Keith nodded. “Thanks Lance. I might take you up on that offer.” 

 

Keith smiled at him and Lance’s face felt warm in response. 

 

It felt like they reached campus faster than the time it took to get to Costco, but Lance blamed that on his earlier stand of mind. He had his food in bags, and Keith helped him carry them, along with his poppy seed muffins. They both dropped off their stuff in their respective rooms and walked back down to the smoker's spot together. Keith pulled out the rest of the joint along with his lighter and flicked it to life. Lance felt deja vu as he saw embers flicker on the end of the joint. Keith took a hit of it, examining it as he exhaled. He passed it off to Lance. Lance took his own hit, and saw Keith watching him from corner of his eye. He hoped he didn’t look stupid. 

 

They passed off the joint until there was absolutely nothing left. They were both at a much more comfortable high than before, simply feeling an airiness to their bodies. They walked back together yet again. 

 

“Wanna split a poppy seed muffin?” Keith asked. They bumped shoulders. 

 

“Hell yes please,” Lance said. 


End file.
